


what i go to school for

by dinglesugdendinglesugden



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M, Teen AU, mentions of fighting, mentions of smoking, school au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 14:56:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16244000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinglesugdendinglesugden/pseuds/dinglesugdendinglesugden
Summary: Aaron is the badly behaved kid, and Robert wants nothing more than to just be able to do his work. A detention seems to work wonders for their relationship.





	what i go to school for

**Author's Note:**

> for anon, a prompt x   
> tumblr: @prettyboysugden

School days: ties too loose, boring lessons and constant childish dramas.

Maths lessons were the worst of the lot, especially first thing on a Friday morning. Nobody wanted to be there, and, if the teacher was fortunate enough for their students to show up on time, if at all, they’d spend the best part of the hour staring longingly out of the window, onto the empty, muddied field. Even though lesson technically started at nine, most students would come strolling in a quarter past, claiming that the bus was late, but with their hands full of sugary drinks that they clearly had time to go to the shop to buy, that obviously wasn’t the case.

Robert Sugden was the exception. He wanted to do well for himself, pass his exams and get a job with a hefty wage slip. In his early high school years, he messed around, got a name for himself as one of the popular kids, the ones who would go onto the top field and smoke, or sell cheap cigarettes for a couple of quid. Something happened to him at the end of those years, knocked some sense into him. Nobody knew what, but they didn’t complain. Teachers started to fight for him to be in their class, because he actually listened and got good grades.

Someone who teachers fought to _not_ be in their class, was Aaron Dingle.

Dingle by name, Dingle by nature, his reputation preceded him. Everyone who had come before him set him up for failure, so even if he wanted to defy the tradition, he never had the capacity to do so. Right from the beginning of his high school career, he didn’t particularly care about his grades. When teachers confronted him about this, he tended to just shrug his shoulders and show off that infamous smirk, saying that his Uncle Cain would hire him.

 

* * *

 

 

“Quiet!” The teacher shouted, raising her voice about fifteen or so rowdy teenagers. “Aaron, open your book and actually do something for once.”

Aaron sat back in his plastic chair and smirked, arms folded across his body, top buttons on his shirt undone and his tie halfway down his chest, unruly. “Don’t need to.”

Robert rolled his eyes, hearing the voice of Aaron, who was sat directly in front of him. Being in this class was Robert’s idea of hell. He just wanted to learn, just so he would actually be in with a chance of passing his exams, but the problem with this? Aaron Dingle. Who had somehow managed to be in every single one of Robert’s lessons. With this, meant that teachers invested the majority of their respective lessons trying to control Aaron, and much less time actually teaching the lesson.

“Oi, Aaron!” One of his friends shouted from across the class. He was swinging on his chair like an imbecile, can of Red Bull balanced precariously at the edge of his table. The devils advocate in Robert wished he’d tilt too far on his chair and fall off, but he was never that lucky. “Sugden just gave you a dirty look.”

He turned around at that, looking directly at Robert. “What even happened to you?” He asked, grin on his face. “You used to actually be cool to hang around.”

“Turned out I wanted more to life than being stuck in the same old boring village, working for my criminal family.” He answered, resting his chin on his connected hands, looking up at Aaron with a glint in his eyes, knowing that he won this one.

Aaron’s smirk faded and he turned back around to face the front, and the class fell silent as they waited for his next move.

“Well at least my mum isn’t dead.”

Without even thinking, Robert picked up the first thing that his hand grabbed a hold of, his heavy exercise book, and threw it directly at Aaron’s head, adrenaline rushing through his body. Aaron winced and ran at Robert, dragging him to the floor and punching him wherever he could. Robert gave as good as he got, kicking and screaming and punching at Aaron.

Two teachers dragged them apart, their uniforms all scrunched up and blood dripping from noses and bust lips, and they were told that they’d have to stay behind tonight for a detention.

 

* * *

 

 

And so when the bell went, at quarter past three, instead of just putting his bag on and walking out, Robert, along with Aaron, was escorted to the detention room and made to sit in silence for half an hour.

Robert actually got on with some homework, his handwriting a little bit more shaky than usual, with Aaron practically breathing down his neck.

_He hated him, after what he said._

Aaron, the smug bastard that he is, sat with his head balancing on his fist, staring as the clock ticked, his free hand twisting a pen around his fingers.

“Can we leave now?” Aaron asked, the second the clock showed that the thirty minutes was up.

The teacher looked up over his glasses, and half nodded. “We’ll do this the old fashioned way. Apologise to each other, shake hands and be on your way.”

Aaron looked at Robert, expecting him to apologise first. It was at this moment they realised how close they were to each other, because Aaron could see every freckle that adorned Robert’s cheeks and over the bridge of his nose. Robert exhaled a long, soft breath as he found himself looking into Aaron’s eyes, ones that he knew were blue, but definitely not this bright, and he definitely didn’t know that if you were fortunate to stand close enough, you could see tiny specks of green that integrated with the blue.

“Sorry for saying that about your mum.” Aaron admitted, and if Robert wasn’t so cynical, he would half believe it.

“I, erm.” Robert stuttered out, throat dry and hands clammy. This just made Aaron’s smirk grow, knowing the affect he was having on Robert. “Sorry for lobbing a book at your head, I guess.”

And with that, the teacher was pleased enough to let them get on with their weekend.

As soon as they walked out the classroom door, a hand came up and dragged onto Robert’s blazer. “What?” He asked, tired and just wanting to leave. He wanted to get as far away from Aaron as humanly possible, just to get rid of any feelings that he had just gained. Both of them living in a small village meant this wouldn’t work, but at least at him he’d have distractions.

“Come back to mine?” Aaron asked, voice probably softer than Robert had ever heard it and if he was completely, brutally honest, it made him weak at the knees.

But still, Robert stood his ground, and ripped his arm out of Aaron’s hold. “Why?”

“So I can do this-” Aaron started, taking a step closer to Robert, and Robert was convinced he was glued to the spot. He leaned forward, breath on Robert’s cheek, and then brushing against his lips and then suddenly their lips were pressed together, innocently, both of them shy. “A hell of a lot more.”


End file.
